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Would be tourists to Berlin: whether you use Airbnb or not, know that Berlin has banned it (renting apartments/flats), because the city of Berlin blames tourists for skyrocketing rents. This reflects the general attitude Berlin has regarding tourists: they are not welcome. Spend your money in a city that is not filled with xenophobic a**holes who really don’t want you in their city. Go somewhere more pleasant, where the locals either don’t mind tourists or they are nice to you because they are smart enough to know that treating tourists well = making money. Berliners don’t get this because Berlin has always been funded by Germany… they’ve never had to be fiscally responsible. They’ve never had to build industries, have a stable economy or provide jobs.
If cities were people, Berlin is a spoiled 15 year old who gets everything paid for by their parents (Germany), never has to be accountable for itself, never has to face reality because it is pampered by it’s parents. Berlin would be a total 3rd world sh*thole if it were not located inside Germany, one of the wealthiest, strongest and most prosperous nations in Europe. Keep in mind that holiday rentals make up a tiny % of apartments/flats available in Berlin, and are not responsible for the rising rents. But typical berlin corruption/avoiding the real problem and deflecting the blame on something or someone else/typical xenophobic berliner mentality is entirely PREDICTABLE. Reality is that tourism is Berlin’s only real industry and prices have been going up before Airbnb. Reality is also that gentrification and globalism is affecting all cities in the world, not just special snowflake Berlin. Berlin has a strong case of “I’m a special snowflake” and the people living in it also have a strong case as well, and for no reason. Berlin is the epitome of mediocrity. People just buy into the Berlin hype and are fascinated by it’s war history and nightlife that has been so hyped up at this point, that they actually spend their money in this sh*t city and don’t notice or don’t care that the locals hate them.
spoiled 15 y/o? More like a spoiled balding 35 y/o special snowflake who's entered every university in the planet and never has gotten a degree. The rest is incredibly accurate of course. I wish more people coming to the city or even already living in the city for years read this. I know this is asking to much to people but sooner or later they realize the things that were pointed out by OP.
This comes only from my experience only but I recently had the chance to open the European office for a startup I'm part of, and Berlin was one option. I studied in Berlin and I know exactly what Berliners are capable of (more like incapable of). Despite what other people said, founders, salespeople, accountants saying that the rent is cheap, tons of "qualified personnel", etc. I knew that Berlin was gonna be an endless waste of cash because that's what people in Berlin is used to, exactly what the first comment said. I knew that literally anywhere in Europe would be a better option and that's what I did. Needless to say, other teams from the incubator that chose Berlin over other cities and countries had to close their office, close their business altogether or are still asking for more money to VCs and in neither case they've been able to create even a functioning office, much less a product. That's why people funding projects and enterprises despise the city because they never get anything off the city, only debt.
Airbnb is horrible and greedy just like uber. These tourists should stay in hotels. Stop blaming residents for not wanting to live ìn their apartment complex filled with come and go tourists. You people are as entitled as other Berliners. Get a reality check.
I second that- except the problem isn't so much airbnb being greedy, it's the people buying up huge amounts of prime housing that was zoned and intended for living in, simply to rent out to airbnb- it has a real effect on the people living next door, and is totally unnecessary, short term renters can short term rent as they always have, tourists can stay in hotels as they always have, and real airbnb (renting your own place while you're away) isn't effected anyway as far as I understand
Yeah... there are two sides to the airbnb story. I've been researching it and feel inclined to weigh in. One side is that Air started off by being a cheaper alternative to short term holiday housing in places like New York and London, but once that model was imported to a market like Berlin - with well regulated rent controls and low prices - then suddenly, airbnb was a more expensive option, not a cheaper one. As anyone who's used it here knows, airbnb landlords in Berlin intentionally charge what London and Paris natives would think is a good price, and that amounts to roughly 3 times what WE think is a good price! But then again, the new law preventing short term lettings to tourists does nothing to prevent airbnb from renting out flats long term for higher rents. It only stops them letting out flats for under 2 months. THAT is an example of tourist-baiting and scapegoating visitors. In reality, the tourists are the ones being ripped off by Berlin landlords whenever they use these sites. They are in a sense, more of a victim than the landlords who've become rich off them. So the intention was good but as usual, the government spun it in a xenophobic way to appease all their constituents, even the dumb-ass ones who automatically blame foreigners for all ills, whether real, imagined, homegrown or imported. Those dumb butts exist everywhere of course (Brexit, anyone?) but Germany cannot take the high road when it caters to them as willingly as the Tory party does.
Speaking of rancid stench..Why hasent anyone exploited Berlins biggest natural resource..Dog shit. I propose a "start up" dog poop collection for community Guerrilla gardening and cutting edge Vegan restaurant .Any left over poo can be collected and dumped on Berghain. Maybe then some nice flowers would grow rather than the field of cunts that exists at the moment.
Hmm, summer in berlin just wouldn't be the same without the fragrant aromas of sun-dried tramp accompanying your commute.
What's your favourite flavour? Gangrenous leg? Freshly pissed myself? Unwashed arse?
Personally I'm a big fan of the evaporating stale beer variety
Three weeks, really? I find it's a bit too delicate for my taste, Its rather difficult to discern over the general background odours. I tend to favour the older vintages, anything from a 6 to maybe a 10 seeker, though I do feel anything above ten to be rather too intense for my liking
In Berlin no one says "they took our jobs" because there are no jobs to begin with.
Keep spreading the word about this page and let many people to know what a boring sad Hellhole Berlin is :)
I've lived here 6 months now and can't wait to get out. I hate GEMA, I really want to watch youtube videos so who are they to decide that I cannot. Well soon I can in another country ha ha, screw you. I also hate it that when I want to get information in English online, it is not always possible because if there is a German version of anything like Adobe programs, magazines etc it's really difficult to get the version in English and I'm just so done with it how difficult everything is when you don't speak German. I really hate it too that in any service oriented situation you don't get service nor a smile, people are just downright rude to you and do their best to make you miserable too. To be honest not everyone but too many people in my opinion. Nobody wants to talk to you, everyone is just so rude, self-centered and entitled. I'm SO happy to leave this place very soon. Thank you for a forum like this, it made me feel better about this for now : D counting days to leave. Also, I have thought am I the bad person here but then again I have lived in several countries and unfortunately never had such experience of disliking a city as much as in Berlin. Actually I still like a lot of the cities I have previously lived in so there's something about Berlin.. I think I might be too soft and sensitive for Berlin, here you have to be very tough and independent and I don't want that to such extend. Great place to visit maybe for a few days but beyond that unbearable to me. Thank you and bye.
When I see somebody leaving I feel a little bit envious because I wanna do it but I don't have enough money to do it. But then I see that all you people leaving are actually nice people full of dreams and hope and positive energy I know you are doing the right thing I always find a little bit of hope that.Beacuse I know that I too can do it someday and that is the force that moves me towards this goal, towards freedom. Towards leaving Berlin.
Banter and self deprecating humour don't work with these guys, it's cringe worthy to explain that you were joking so often. Trouble is, I just can't stop, it's a huge part of my personality
Too right. I used to think that Berliners had two default reactions to everything: rage and hilarity. But on the balance, I have narrowed that down. They have one reaction to everything: RAGE. It comes in a few varieties:
1. Cold Rage. This is shown by giving no response to your wit or compliments because, well, how dare you insult their intelligence with such niceties?! Everyone knows that any kind of warmth is all LIES!!
2. Mocking rage. Expressed with shrieking, hyena-like, humourless laughter, directed at anyone who looks, sounds, acts, a bit different or unique from the identikit crowd. How dare they try and upstage the status quo by setting themselves apart from it?! These people deserve to be punished... not with a sound beating, no. Instead let's laugh at them in shrill, piercing, hacking, Klingon-style guffaws that startle flocks of seagulls off of distant coastlines. And let's show the world that Germany really DOES have a sense of humour after all, just as long as YOU are the punchline.
3. Enraged Rage. The kind of rage Germany does best but is slightly embarrassed about because, you know, Hitler. The guy was a poster child for 'enraged rage' with his frothing, foaming, bursting facial capillaries, hacking consonants, the works. You'll experience this if you cross the street against the lights, cross your eyes at an S-Bahn security or desk clerk, or fail to queue in the right line at the Amt. Because those are the moments when World War III style levels of rage are really called for, obviously!
Unimpressed by this city. Certainly cannot hold a candle to real cosmopolitan cities of the world, but even for a medium sized city, it's depressing, dreary and cold. No trees, green, ugly concrete parks, most of the buildings are grey, ugly communist buildings, no beauty in the architecture, streets or energy of the city. People look miserable on the streets for the most part. You can feel this tension in the air. Homeless people everywhere, annoying hipsters everywhere, deranged people on the trains... Few people seem happy or genuine. Idle looking MENA men everywhere, who have a staring problem. I was in various parts of east Berlin for months & im saying this is not s one time or two time incident, these men stare at women non-stop. I have been to Istanbul in the past and I can honestly say it's the same level of staring/hostile body language or in Istanbul it was even less! I've had men stare at me, directly into my face, for 15+ minutes on these trains, trying to force me to look at them. I had an incident where I was looking at the ubahn stop list and this guy near the sign jumped forward towards me, trying to intimidate me. These men are hostile and seem angry that western women don't want to sleep with them. The Germans seem to be blind deaf and dumb to it. In denial. Delusional. People like to pretend it's a multicultural wonderland but that's a joke. As a female you can get raped on the train and no one will do anything, they'll just pretend not to see. Berlin has big problems ... Socially and economically. The only people who will enjoy Berlin are those wanting to live this faux alternative bohemian hipster "anti-capitalist" lifestyle. Beware of travel bloggers harping on about it, they are just looking to get views on their posts, since Berlin is a very hyped up city and the travel industry capitalizes on that. Don't recommend anyone to live in Berlin. If you want to visit to see the historical attractions (not much else to see or experience besides that tbh) just stay 3-5 days. That's all you need.
The lakes suck, wannsee is so packed in summer with boats people (they often have to shut the road as it's just too full. Weissensee is the most awful place I have ever been, the lake literally has a scum of suncream on its muddy waters, the gems like liepnitzsee are harder to get to, but still unbelievable busy, may as well jsut go to the Freibad (which are actually quite good).
The Parks would be better described as slightly managed fields, with bushes and trees, a few lame statues (turnvater Jahn anyone?) And many Junkies and promiscuous men disappearing into bushes, uncontrolled Mass barbecues (görli) or degrading bbq cages where twenty families can sit on top of each other on bare Dirt (preussenpark). And dog shit, heaps and heaps of dog shit.
As for so much of interesting, i agree with the previous dude, with a few exceptions, most buildings and streets are drab, grey, and uninspiring. Birmingham is more attractive a City than Berlin for sexual act sake!
Think you'll just leave the city for a day in the country side then? Welcome to Brandenburg, the Barren steppe of civilization. The buildings in these villages make Berlin seem like an architectural Dream, the people make Berliner seem cultures, and the Spreewald gherkin leaves one dreaming of Currywurst. If you like Flat Flat Flat fields, and Flat Flat forests, maybe you'll like it. Otherwise, prepare for dissapointment, or a very long Drive.
Berlin is a small City with little history Spanning further back than the 1900, Set in the flat featureless Wasteland of North East Germany. It is hours away from the next City, and worshipped by morons.
Stay away
OK, many buildings in the West are ugly but there are lots of lovely Altbau buildings in the city. Prenzlauer Berg springs to mind. As for lakes, there are many many lakes besides Wannsee. Lots of water and greenery compared to parched cities like Madrid. Plus space - wide streets, large fields, a lower population. Easy to cycle around by bike. Cafes everywhere. Quite low rent. Generally reasonable prices for most things. Great transportation system. OK, not so fond of the dog shit, the hipsters and crazy bums on the streets nor the rudeness of many locals
I've been here for over a decade, and I suppose I've integrated quite well into society.
I don't "have a laugh", I don't expect to hear people laugh or joke in public, and frown upon those who do.
I don't hold doors for women or the old, and I've learnt that offering a pregnant or old woman a seat is just not customary here.
I've developed the necessary "not unhappy, but not happy either" face- as I've discovered appearing happy is the sign of an idiot here.
Light conversation is now below me - proper Germans debate politics and the environment amongst friends in the most serious of ways, this is something I found challenging at first, but I've adapted, as one does when integrating into a new society.
My clothing has also adjusted appropriately - nothing beats a shirt tucked into some jeans with a suit jacket for important office work, but for those occasions when one really does need to dress up, I do ensure that my suit is suitably misfitted and preferably a delightful have of blue. Casualware is of course bland, cheap and unwashed, as is expected here
I also take a keen interest in current affairs, by watching for misbehaviour from my window, and promptly calling those delightful chaps from the ordnungsamt - it's a slippery slope, if you let folk walk on bike paths, park incorrectly, or cross lights on red, then the whole world will end quite quickly.
Im afraid to say, that the stereotypes, and a lot of the descriptions on this site are very true, but if you stick it out, you'll learn the ways of life here, and become a really useful member of the workforce.
I of course had it easier, stemming as I do, from a "respectable" foreign country. Those of you with darker skin, or simply less privileged lands, will first have to prove that you are capable of basic tasks like counting, following simple tasks and not stealing jobs before you can proceed to integrate further.
But it's worth it, life here is not super fun, but we're all really well insured, and so well regulated that you're very safe indeed.
How I read this: "As long as your are white and you come from a respectable country you can maybe, maybe be part of a culture that is bland but it's safe. Otherwise expect Germans to think you cannot even count because they don't like dark people, or Italian people, or Spanish people, well anything that is south of Germany."
To be fair, I worked with a (dark skinned) Brazilian once counting back returned rental items, there were a couple missing,and the customer actually turned to me, pointed at the Brazilian and said, "yeah, but can he even count". Needless to say, the Brazilian was pissed off
All the empty, dull, superficial people who go to live there to romanticize their senselessness, idolize the city as compensation for their own ignored sadness and longings.
In the summer its better, no?
The Lack of femininity is weird, they seem to take Great measures to lower the voice, stomp about, eat like pigs, cut their hair awkwardly and dress like shit, because of some vague perverted understanding of Feminism.
Just because you don't have to behave according to your gender doesn't mean you have to behave as if it were not your gender.
For those people, who aren't already in Berlin, but want to move to. You should understand one thing very clearly: if you'll move to Berlin - you'll never make friends here. You'll be lonely till the rest of your life. Huh, OK, if you're german - you have some chances, but otherwise...No, no way. Berliners don't know, what friendship, smiles, sex, passion, openness actually are. And, I guess, will never know.
Of course we berliners can make friends, and smile and darn bro..sex is awesome with u tourist girls..we simply dont give a fornicate about u tourists with ur wanna be hedonistic lifestyle taking over the city with crap instagram boutique sushi wannabe new york....blabla...lifes hard ..berlin is harder
pooping people and pooping politicians. fornicate this city and fornicate hertha bsc!
In a few words, what do you hate THE MOST about Berlin?
well goodbye for good Berlin. It was not nice meeting you. Everybody here is so hyped for the summer but I only see a steaming pile. I hope I never ever come back to this place.